We are gradually collecting a nice assortment of telephones. These will be a new display in our communication area. We still need older phones, vintage cell phones, and telephone books, and any accessories for portable phones, phone stands, etc.

The core team is busy trying to design our new spaces and remodeling our existing spaces. The new area will be dedicated to farming and ranching life to start with and an area for our model train which has been rewired and will be fun to run on special occasions.

We will also be moving the art out of the office and into the new art room for the permanent display of all our featured artists. With all of these dominoes changing, a grand opening reception will not be anytime soon. Stay tuned on weekly status reports.

HISTORICAL MUSINGS

I will be venturing to Odessa this week to attend the annual meeting of the West Texas Historical Association. I will be hearing presentations from regional historians so will bring back some good stories for future columns.
This week we celebrated April Fools Day on April 1. I hope everyone had fun playing jokes on each other. This day although not a national holiday is one we all remember and try to have alittle fun with each other. It is believed that it originated fro the Medieval Feast of Fools, held in December and is still observed in Spanish speaking countries.

In some countries, the April 1 tradition is known as "April Fish" and includes trying to attach a paper fish to the victim’s back with being noticed. In 1957, The BBC pulled a prank, known as the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest prank. They broadcast a fake film of Swiss farmers picking freshly-grown spaghetti. The BBC were later flooded with requests to purchase a spaghetti plant, forcing them to declare the video as a prank on the news the next day.